Historically, there have been two widely used forms of electronic test equipment: an oscilloscope and a multimeter. Conventional oscilloscopes generally plot voltage as a function of time, usually by way of a continuous graph, where the voltage results from a signal input to the oscilloscope. The user can then measure various features of the waveform, including its amplitude and frequency. Accordingly, a conventional oscilloscope (or “scope”) acquires a snapshot of data and immediately displays it. Conventional oscilloscopes support manual scaling by allowing the user to set the scale with dials. Some graphing packages or software for conventional oscilloscopes offer autoscale software options. But the manual scaling and the graphic software of conventional oscilloscopes focus on the y-axis. Since the x-axis is programmed by the user to determine the sampling rate and interval, there isn't a need to automatically scale the x-axis in a conventional oscilloscope.
By contrast, a conventional multimeter generally combines several measurement functions in one unit, often acting as a voltmeter, ammeter, and ohmmeter, among other functions. Conventional digital multimeters, or DMMs, sometimes include a graphic representation of the quantity under test. Some benchtop versions of conventional DMMs also record data over time through a data logging functionality. But a conventional multimeter does not behave like a scope when it samples at high rates or in bursts.
Embodiments of the invention address the shortcomings with the conventional systems.